Friday, May 03, 2019

What is your most valued possession?

What is Your Most Valuable Possession?

It’s a good question; I wonder how you would answer it? If we are being honest our answer will depend, to some extent, on our circumstances. For instance, if I was terminally ill what I thought was important would be completely different to my choice in sunnier days. Car, homes, holidays and technology might be important to me now, but they have little value if life is slipping from my grasp. I hope that family, relationships and my spiritual condition will be my focus if I get time to contemplate my departure from this life to the next.

Is Your Most Valuable Possession a Bucket List?

So be honest with me – if you were facing the dying moments of your life on Earth what would your checklist look like? I often hear people talk about a bucket list of things they would like to do before they die. It might be to climb this mountain, fly to this destination or enjoy this particular experience. Please don’t get me wrong, I understand that you would be creating memories for those who will be left behind. I appreciate that you may be seeking to ensure that the final moments of life are full of genuine rich and familial experience.

The Final Moments of Life

Have you considered that this might not be the end?

Do you realize that your existence is not over when the curtain falls on your life’s journey!

This life is but the runway from which you take your flight to realms above or the pathway from which you plunge deep into the depths of death and unending judgment.

What Does The Word of God Say?

The word of God (the Bible) states in Hebrews 9:27 ‘And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment’.You might not believe me at the moment but be assured that there is an ‘after this’ for every human being. Death is not the end, a day of account and reckoning is coming.

The advice God gave to an ancient people is as true today as it was when first given – ‘Prepare to meet thy God’, Amos 4. 12. We prepare for most things we face in life and when we don’t we usually discover that we should have! The old adage is still true ‘Fail to Prepare or Prepare to Fail’. The choice lies in our own hands.

The very fact that you are reading this means that you are still alive. You might be fit and well or you could be facing the closing chapter of your life – either way, it is time to prepare.

We Need a Saviour

As wrongdoers (sinners) we need someone to save us. We do not have the ability or the capacity to save ourselves. Sin, as defined in the Bible, is offensive to God (as it is to us at times) and

the automatic consequence of sin is death. On numerous occasions the Bible makes this clear:

Sin when it is finished ends in death, James 1. 15;

The day that you eat thereof (disobey God) you will surely die, Genesis 2. 17;

The wages of sin is death, Romans 6. 23;

The soul that sinneth it shall die, Ezekiel 18. 4.

Sin is Significant

All of these statements serve to make one thing clear, sin is not insignificant and without an effect. Sin hurts us, destroys us, traps us, deceives us and eventually brings death to everyone – ‘For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God‘, Romans chapter 3 verse 23.

I am glad to remind you that ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners‘. The death of Jesus on a cross paid in full the debt of sin that we owe. He suffered once, ‘the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God’.

The Most Valuable Possession? – Salvation!

The truth of the matter is that the most valuable things I could offer you today are the forgiveness of sins, peace with God and salvation through trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Life is full of questions and often the answers are difficult. Stephen Baker seeks to answer various questions about life and faith using the Bible as his only source. Listen to Stephen’s show, “Life Questions,” on HopeStreamRadio as he tackles the challenge of life questions.